Italy and the United Arab Emirates join forces in the fight against corruption

Italy and the United Arab Emirates join forces in the fight against corruption

Important visit to Palazzo Sciarra, headquarters of the Italian Anti-Corruption Authority, on Monday afternoon 9 September 2024.

A high-level delegation from the United Arab Emirates, led by His Excellency Humaid Abushibs, President of the UAE Accountability Authority, the Court of Auditors of the United Arab Emirates, met with the President of Anac, Giuseppe Busìa. 

The talks focused on the common desire to strengthen cooperation in the fight against corruption and the prevention of crime, including through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding.

"It is an honour and a pleasure to welcome you to Rome," said President Busia. "There are many aspects that unite our two institutions, and this facilitates a fruitful exchange of best practices. We are facing a fundamental revolution, the emergence of artificial intelligence, which has a significant impact on public procurement. However, transparency in the use of algorithms needs to be increased. Contracting authorities can use blockchain and artificial intelligence to automate their procurement processes, in order to achieve higher standards of efficiency. It will be essential that the decisions taken by these systems are based, inter alia, on rigorous algorithmic non-discrimination criteria and that the final decision is always reserved for the individual".

"There is therefore a very delicate issue of algorithmic transparency - President Busia added - linked to knowing the reasons and the logical process followed for public decisions taken by artificial intelligence systems, their justification and, therefore, respect for the constitutionally protected rights of the individual. This applies both to the decision to award a contract to one operator rather than another and to other, even more sensitive, automated decisions. This is not a problem for tomorrow, but a problem for today, as these rules are already fully applicable".

His Excellency Humaid Abushibs said he was keen to work with the Italian authority to ensure greater integrity, transparency and reliability in the UAE public sector. "We not only want to implement measures and strategies to ensure higher standards of ethical behaviour and efficiency in public activities. We want to ensure that our actions are more and more focused on fighting corruption and ensuring the proper use of public funds, controlling financial activities and spending centres".

President Humaid Abushibs also said that he was very interested in learning more about Anac's activities in the field of digitalisation of procurement and the implementation of the database, which plays a central role at Italian and European level, especially with the advent of artificial intelligence. For this reason, the Emirates Court of Audit intends to reach an agreement with Anac for the signing of a joint memorandum.

The Emirati delegation included the President of the UAE Accountability Authority, the Director General of the Authority, H.E. Wael Mahmoud, the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Italy, H.E. Abdulla Al-Subousi, and the Director of International Relations, Mohamed Al Midfa.

Anac was represented by President Busia, Secretary General Filippo Romano, Sonja Levstik, Councillor for International Affairs, Lorenza Ponzone, Head of the International Relations Office, and Pierangelo Giovanetti, Spokesperson for the Authority.